The plan is for people to arrive en masse at the polling stations on March 17 at noon, forming long lines.

Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who recently passed away, has urged a protest against President Putin on the day of the presidential election. According to the plan, on March 17, people should arrive at noon at the polling stations for the presidential election, forming long queues in front of voting venues. "Election day must be used to show that we exist and that we are many," she stated in a video message. The initiative, referred to by her late husband's allies as Navalny's "political last will," has been named "At Noon Against Putin."

In her Wednesday call to action, Navalnaya described the simultaneous appearance at the polls as a "very simple and safe action," which the authorities cannot ban. This allows like-minded individuals to see that "there are many of us, and we are strong." Then, she said, people can vote for any candidate except Putin, spoil their ballot, or even write "Navalny" in large letters on it.

The election, set for March 15-17, will surely grant Putin another six-year term. The Russian leader, who has been in power for 24 years, has no significant rivals after authorities excluded two candidates who opposed the war in Ukraine. Nonetheless, the Kremlin looks to the elections as a means of reinforcing Putin's legitimacy two years after the invasion of Ukraine, which has now claimed the lives of several hundred thousand victims.

The idea for this nation-spanning protest, rolling through Russia's 11 time zones, was proposed by Alexei Navalny two weeks before his death on February 16. Despite being imprisoned under a series of charges, Navalny remained active on social media with the aid of his lawyers. On X, he wrote that the election day protest has the potential to become a true "nationwide action of protest."

Under Putin's dictatorship, every effort is made to criminalize those who think differently and to dismantle human rights organizations and independent media. The last two years have seen perfection of this effort under the guise of the "special military operation" in Ukraine. As a result, tens of thousands have emigrated, and there are now several thousand political prisoners in the country. In a new development of repression, on Wednesday, the authorities added Garry Kasparov, a former chess world champion and exiled Kremlin critic, to the state list of "terrorists and extremists." Kasparov, who has lived in the United States since 2013, has been a vocal critic of President Putin from the outset and has condemned the aggression against Ukraine since 2014.

Although the competent financial supervisory authority has not specified why Kasparov was added to the list, he called his listing an "honor" that "says more about Putin's fascist regime than about me."